An election isn’t just about winners and losers; it’s also a kind of scheduled checkup on the health of our democracy. So far, the vital signs aren’t good.

There are indications that people remain committed to the political process and its importance to how we carve out our future together, but not as many of them as there used to be, and not nearly with the confidence required to restore optimism to our daily lives.

Something about this provincial election is deeply unsettling. People all over the province have expressed a deep sense of disquiet over the manner in which political parties, their representatives and citizens in general have behaved. Only people who thrive on politics feel pumped about electoral politics at the moment. The rest turn their heads away in disgust or shame at what is becoming of our political class.

Many wonder when sanity will prevail again. Promises are made that can’t possibly be fulfilled but are nevertheless trotted out in the hope voters are too dumb or distracted to notice.

And what of the attacks against female candidates that have become particularly acute in our city? They are malicious, demeaning and frequently border on hatred.

For any party or candidate that uses such malevolent voices for their own twisted ends, there can only be one conclusion: a political “win” warrants such practices, even if they bring down community in the process.

We are the last generation that will remember what life was like before the internet. Those who have lived through that transition have a troubling understanding of its potential to undercut and destroy the societal trust that once held our populace together.

In the right hands, the internet can restore democracy, bring communities together and help us believe in one another and our collective potential. But elections are the optimal time for seeing what the online world can become when people will do anything, say anything and believe anything as long as it cuts a path to power.

We have forgotten that for all the digital world does for us, it demands something from us in return: to be open-minded, fair, humble, always learning and ready to speak out against intolerance and bigotry. We overlooked that part of the bargain, leaving our politics in a state of dysfunction just as we most require it to tackle our great challenges.

There are credible candidates running in this election, and there are sound policies from which to choose. But makes no mistake, our politics is changing. It’s not an add-on to what has gone before; it seeks to blow up what preceded it if that’s what it takes to win. It will never rest until it can divide us sufficiently enough to gain power.

This will go on, election after election, until our democratic estate, like Humpty Dumpty, can’t be put back together again.

What will we carry forward into the future should we, as citizens, continue to tolerate this shame in our public life? Are we willing to put behind us what once made our democracy respectful, human and malleable, despite its shortcomings?

We are proffered simplistic instead of reasoned solutions for how we should live together. And that’s because some who seek our vote think simplistic solutions are all we citizens care about. Are they right?

The highest political office in the land isn’t in Ottawa or Queen’s Park; it is that of the citizen. Only citizens can remove from power or deny power to those who would seek to weave discord among us.

We are at our best when, despite our differences or party affiliation, we show respect and compromise for journeying into our future. To tolerate the politics of bigotry, racism or hatred is to demean ourselves beyond the point where democracy can help us.

When we make a choice in a few days, let’s not vote by our opinion alone, but with the sense that, whatever the electoral outcome, we still have the task of building our communities and province together. Let’s not burn the bridges we will need to cross once the election is over. Surely we can do better than what we have tolerated in this election.

It all comes down to us — citizens.

Glen Pearson is co-director of the London Food Bank and a former Liberal MP for the riding of London North Centre.glen@glenpearson.ca

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